jueves, 27 de noviembre de 2014

The First Thanksgiving

In
1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn
harvest feast which is acknowledged today as one of the first
Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. This harvest meal has become a
symbol of cooperation and interaction between English colonists and
Native Americans. Although this feast is considered by many to the very
first Thanksgiving celebration, it was actually in keeping with a long
tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful
bounty of crops. Native American groups throughout the Americas,
including the Pueblo, Cherokee, Creek and many others organized harvest
festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks for
centuries before the arrival of Europeans in North America.

Historians
have also recorded other ceremonies of thanks among European settlers
in North America, including British colonists in Berkeley Plantation,
Virginia. At this site near the Charles River in December of 1619, a
group of British settlers led by Captain John Woodlief knelt in prayer
and pledged "Thanksgiving" to God for their healthy arrival after a long
voyage across the Atlantic. This event has been acknowledged by some
scholars and writers as the official first Thanksgiving among European
settlers on record. Whether at Plymouth, Berkeley Plantation, or
throughout the Americas, celebrations of thanks have held great meaning
and importance over time. The legacy of thanks, and particularly of the
feast, have survived the centuries as people throughout the United
States gather family, friends, and enormous amounts of food for their
yearly Thanksgiving meal.

The
30th November is a day worthy of celebration in Tenerife; firstly,
it’s the Fiesta of San Andrés or Saint Andrew as he’s better known to
Scots. Secondly, it’s the day the wine cellars throw open their doors
for the tasting of the new wines. Although on the face of it these two
happy events appear to having nothing more in common than their place
on the calendar, popular tales speak of a much stronger link.

The big noise in town

29th November, the Eve of the Fiesta of San Andrés, sees Puerto de la Cruz staging the ‘Arrastre los Cacharros’
or ‘run with pots and pans’. As the afternoon turns to evening,
children drag pots, pans, tins and assorted metal containers through the
streets on lengths of string, with the intention of making as much
noise as possible. As the evening progresses, so the age of the
participants and the weight of the metal increases as groups of teenage
boys appear, dragging vast chariots of empty oil drums, old washing
machine drums, exhaust pipes and even old microwave ovens on great
lengths of rope.

To the untrained eye, Arrastre los Cacharros
looks like an attempt to engage the young in environmental
sustainability through the re-cycling of tins, but in fact its origins
are rooted in tradition, some practical, others more fanciful. One of
the nicest tales is that when San Andrés arrived on Tenerife he was
already late (the rest of the Saints having arrived on 1st November –
All Saints’ Day) and, to add insult to injury, he discovered the new
wine, partook liberally of its medicinal properties and fell asleep in
the street. Whereupon, local children tied pots and pans to his clothes
so that every time he tried to turn over he’d wake up.

Roll out the barrel

Whatever
the legends about the origins of the Fiesta of San Andrés, his feast
day falls fortuitously in line with the year’s wine harvest and the
more practical explanation for the tradition of Arrastre los Cacharros is the practice of rolling barrels down to the sea to wash them.

The toboggan run

While
in Puerto de la Cruz it’s the children who play, in Icod de los Vinos
and La Guancha wooden sledges are constructed from heartwood and waxed
with resin before being ridden down the near vertical streets at
breakneck speed. The faster the sledge, the greater the impact and the
louder the applause; needless to say, the Red Cross are on hand in
case anyone’s judgment goes seriously awry.

The practice of riding the boards (Arrastre de las Tablas)
in Icod and La Guancha originates from the seventeenth century, when
the wine was transported down to the coast for export on sledges drawn
by bullocks. The barrels rested on wooden planks and a helmsman would
stand on the boards at the back, steering the sledge with the use of a
wooden oar. The sound of the barrels riding the cobbled streets meant
that the cellars were open for tasting.

Whatever the origins, one thing is clear; the Fiesta of San
Andrés is cause for celebration and it would be nothing less than
impolite not to drink a toast to the man himself with the new vino del país; fruity, light and lethal if drunk in large quantities but perfect accompanied by a bag of hot roasted castañas (chestnuts), a pincho (small skewer of marinated pork) and a piece of anis bread while sitting on the harbour trying to ignore all that noise.

martes, 11 de noviembre de 2014

1. The Past SimpleThe Past Simple is used to narrate past events in chronological order:

Alice left her family home in the morning and moved to the big city. What a busy day it was! She sat and looked at the cosy living room around her. At last the house was hers. She gazed out at the London skyline with awe.

2. The Past PerfectThe Past Perfect is used to express an action that happened before a definite time in the past.A writer can use it to re-order the events of a narrative for dramatic effect:

Alice sat and looked at the cosy living room around her. At last the house was hers. What abusy day it had been! She had left her family home in the morning and had moved to the bigcity. She gazed at the London skyline with awe.

Notice that had need not be repeated if the subject of both verbs is the same:

She had said goodbye to her mother and (had) caught the train to London.

It
is not always essential to use the Past Perfect. If it is clear that
the events described in the time clause took place before the one in the
main clause, the Past Simple can be used.

After she said goodbye to her mother, she caught the train to London.

If it is important to show that the first action was completed before the second one began, the Past Perfect must be used.

When she had raised sufficient capital, she put in an offer on the house.

For
reasons of style, it is unwise (and unnecessary) to have to many verbs
in the Past Perfect one after another. Once the time aspect of 'past in
the past' has been established, the Past Simple can be used as long as
there is no ambiguity.

The
furniture suited the room perfectly. She had been to auction rooms
looking for just the right period pieces, and had found some excellent
examples of Regency workmanship. She bought them at good prices, and
didn't pay more than five hundred pounds for anything.

3. The Past Continuous and the Past Perfect Continuous.The Past Continuous and the Past Perfect Continuous (as with all continuous tenses) expressideas of activity in progress or repeated activity.

She was wearing a green velvet dress.

She was hoping the phone would ring.She had been arranging and rearranging the rooms for weeks.

4. Past Simple, used to, and would for past habits

Used to can be used to express past habits and states:We used to go out a lot. (habit)He used to be very short tempered. (state)Would can express typical behaviour. Whereas used to is quite factual, would looks at pasthabits rather nostalgically.We
had some lovely holidays by the sea when I was young. We'd spend the
day collecting seashells, or we'd go for long walks on the cliffs.Would can not be used to express past states.(We cannot say *He'd live in a lovely cottage .)If the past action happened only once (and is therefore not a habit), the Simple Past must be used.

5. 'At the beginning', 'In the end' etc.

The words and expressions that tell us when something happens in a story are not all used in quite the same way.At the beginning (of the story) tells us the chronological point.In the beginning and at first suggest a contrast later. We expect to hear but later thecircumstances changed.At the end of (the story) tells us the chronological point.In the end suggests a contrast earlier. Before, there were problems and uncertainty.Finally and eventually suggest a long wait. (Finally usually comes before the verb.) Theoutcome may be positive or negative.At last suggests a very long wait. The outcome is positive.